1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component, and more particularly, to an electronic component including a laminate in which insulating layers are laminated to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a related electronic component, for example, a multilayer ceramic capacitor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-129224 is known. The multilayer ceramic capacitor described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-129224 includes a plurality of dielectric layers, a plurality of electrodes, and terminals. The dielectric layers and the electrodes are alternately laminated to each other. The terminals are external electrodes provided on a bottom surface of a laminate including the dielectric layers. In the multilayer ceramic capacitor described above, the electrodes are exposed between the dielectric layers at the bottom surface of the laminate, and the terminals are formed by plating portions at which the electrodes are exposed.
Incidentally, the multilayer ceramic capacitor must have a reduced equivalent series resistance (ESR). As a method for reducing the ESR, for example, a method in which the area of the electrode exposed from the bottom surface of the laminate is increased is known. With this method, the area of a portion at which the electrode and the terminal are connected is increased, and, thus, the ESR is reduced.
However, when the area of the electrode exposed from the bottom surface of the laminate is increased, delamination in which the dielectric layers are separated from each other is likely to occur. The electrode and the dielectric layer are made from different materials. Therefore, the adhesion between the electrode and the dielectric layer is relatively weak as compared to the adhesion between the dielectric layers. In addition, when a mother laminate is cut into a plurality of laminates, in each of which the electrodes are exposed from the bottom surface thereof, delamination may occur between the electrode and the dielectric layer bonded thereto with a relatively weak adhesion force by a stress applied to the laminate during the cutting.